La meva mare acostuma a comprar guants quan troba una bona talla.

In Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article, especially with family members.

So:

• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu pare = my father
• la seva germana = his/her sister

This is different from English, where you normally say just my mother, without the.

In some contexts, Catalan can omit the article, but la meva mare is the standard, natural form here.

Acostumar a + infinitive means to usually do something, to tend to do something, or to be in the habit of doing something.

So:

• acostuma a comprar = usually buys / tends to buy

Other examples:

• Acostumo a llevar-me d’hora. = I usually get up early.
• Acostumen a sopar tard. = They usually eat dinner late.

A key point is that acostumar is followed by a before the infinitive:

• acostuma a comprar
• not acostuma comprar

Because the verb pattern is:

acostumar a + infinitive

So the a is required by the verb acostumar when it means to be used to / to usually do.

Examples:

• Acostuma a llegir abans de dormir. = She usually reads before sleeping.
• Acostumo a anar-hi a peu. = I usually go there on foot.

English does not always use a preposition here, so this can feel unusual to English speakers.

Because after acostuma a, Catalan uses an infinitive to express the action that is habitual.

Structure:

• [conjugated verb] + a + [infinitive]

Here:

• acostuma = the conjugated verb
• comprar = the infinitive describing the action

So:

• La meva mare acostuma a comprar... literally works like:
• My mother usually tends to buy...

This is similar to English structures like:

• She likes to buy
• She tends to buy
• She wants to buy

Because Catalan, like English, often uses a bare plural noun when speaking generally.

So:

• comprar guants = to buy gloves / to buy gloves in general
• comprar uns guants = to buy some gloves / a pair of gloves
• comprar els guants = to buy the gloves (specific gloves)

In this sentence, guants is generic, not a specific pair already known to the listener.

Quan troba means when she finds.

Catalan often uses the present tense for habitual actions, just as English can do in sentences like:

• My mother usually buys gloves when she finds a good size.

This sentence describes something that happens regularly, not one single event in the past or future.

So:

• troba = she finds
• present tense is natural because the whole sentence describes a repeated habit

The subject is understood to be the same as in the main clause: la meva mare.

So the meaning is:

• My mother usually buys gloves when she finds a good size.

Catalan often leaves the subject unstated in subordinate clauses when it is clear from context.

Here, troba is third person singular, and the natural interpretation is that she—the mother—is the one who finds the right size.

Yes. In clothing contexts, talla means size.

So:

• una bona talla = literally a good size

In natural English, depending on context, this might also be understood as:

• the right size
• a suitable size

Since the sentence is about buying gloves, talla refers to clothing/accessory sizing, not cutting or carving, even though the noun may look related to words like to cut in other Romance languages.

In Catalan, many adjectives normally come after the noun, but some common adjectives—especially ones expressing a subjective quality or emphasis—often come before the noun.

bo / bona is one of those adjectives that can often go before the noun:

• una bona talla

This sounds natural and idiomatic.

Very roughly:

• bona before the noun often feels more like good / suitable
• after the noun, it can sometimes sound more literal or stylistically different depending on context

So in this sentence, una bona talla is the expected choice.

It literally means when, but in a habitual sentence like this, English often understands it as whenever.

So:

• quan troba una bona talla can be understood as
• when she finds a good size or
• whenever she finds a good size

Because the main clause is habitual (acostuma a comprar), quan naturally has this repeated, general meaning.

Not usually in this sentence.

Here, acostuma a comprar means:

• usually buys
• tends to buy
• is in the habit of buying

English is used to buying means something different: it suggests familiarity or being accustomed to the activity.

Compare:

• La meva mare acostuma a comprar guants... = My mother usually buys gloves...
• La meva mare està acostumada a comprar guants... = My mother is used to buying gloves...

So acostuma a is about habit, not about being accustomed in the psychological sense.

Troba is the third person singular present indicative of trobar (to find).

Conjugation:

• jo trobo = I find
• tu trobes = you find
• ell/ella troba = he/she finds
• nosaltres trobem = we find
• vosaltres trobeu = you all find
• ells/elles troben = they find

Here it matches la meva mare, which is she:

• La meva mare troba = My mother finds

Not with exactly the same meaning.

• quan troba una bona talla = when/whenever she finds a good size
• si troba una bona talla = if she finds a good size

In this sentence, quan suggests that this is the condition under which the action typically happens, almost like a repeated pattern. It feels more natural for a habitual fact.

Si would focus more on possibility:

• She buys gloves if she finds a good size

That is possible, but quan is a very natural choice here because the sentence describes a recurring habit.